Eugene herbal companies combine

The work of Eugene herbalist River Kennedy will live on through her daughter, Shay, and the Eugene company Mountain Rose Herbs.

Kennedy died Nov. 19 of complications from multiple sclerosis. She was 57.

Terra Firma Botanicals, which Kennedy owned for 30 years, made herbal extracts, elixirs and syrups to boost the immune system, support respiratory health and help with other conditions. At Kennedy’s request, Mountain Rose Herbs has agreed to buy the recipes, inventory and production equipment of Terra Firma Botanicals.

The acquisition takes effect Jan. 3. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Shay Kennedy, 30, said it feels good that her mom’s life’s work will continue.

“She put a lot of energy into making her formulations and making sure the products were about high quality,” she said.

“It was never about money for her, so we always made sure to get people great products, and I’m happy to be continuing that. It’s great that (Mountain Rose) can keep doing that for the community.”

Mountain Rose will hire Terra Firma’s seven employees, including Shay Kennedy, who grew up with her mother’s business and has worked full time at Terra Firma for 10 years.

She will oversee production at Terra Firma’s former warehouse in west Eugene. Mountain Rose will take over the lease for the 5,100-square-foot space.

Including the new hires, Mountain Rose will have just over 200 employees in January, Mountain Rose co-owner Shawn Donnille said.

Terra Firma stopped taking orders through its website on Thursday .

In the next few weeks, Terra Firma’s former line of products will start to be sold under the Mountain Rose label.

“We didn’t want to buy the (Terra Firma) brand,” Donnille said, adding that trying to maintain two brands would have compromised the company’s ability to maintain the Mountain Rose Herbs brand.

The two companies have collaborated for years.

Under a private-label agreement, Terra Firma has produced Mountain Rose’s line of about 100 liquid herbal extracts, such as elder and echinacea to support the immune system, since 2008, Donnille said.

The purchase will boost Mountain Rose’s line to about 200 different extracts, he said.

Mountain Rose also will gain a line of elixirs and syrups to help with specific ailments, Donnille said.

He said he envisions sales growth for the former Terra Firma products because Mountain Rose has a wider reach.

Shay Kennedy said it was her mom’s idea to sell to Mountain Rose owners Julie Bailey and Shawn Donnille.

“We just wanted to ensure that people would still be able to get the quality extracts and elixirs and syrups that they have been getting through Terra Firma, and that they can still get them through Mountain Rose,” she said.

Donnille called River Kennedy “a good friend” and a “fantastic formulator and a brilliant herbalist.”

She also was a dedicated supporter of wildlife and wilderness issues, he said.

“We always had so much respect for Terra Firma,” Donnille said. “When you’re a young company or a small company, as an owner you have to manage every single little aspect, so it gives you very little time to devote to environmental issues. But River was so passionate about it that she pulled it off brilliantly.”

In a letter to customers posted recently on Terra Firma’s website, River Kennedy wrote of being diagnosed with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis 21 years ago. She said she drew strength from knowing that her herbal formulations were helping people, but that the company also was a source of stress that contributed to her declining health.

“Knowing that my time on this planet was coming to a close, I decided to let Terra Firma go,” Kennedy wrote.

“In order to provide the same quality products for our community, I thought it best to reach out to a local company that has the same values of integrity and honesty, and that supports the healing of our earth and all of her species,” the letter said.

“River approached me about three months ago and said she probably had until March to live,” Donnille said.

She died in November, so Mountain Rose finished up negotiations with her daughter Shay.

River Kennedy bought Terra Firma from a friend in 1986, four years after its founding.

In the early years, it was a home-based business, while Kennedy raised two children.

Mountain Rose, which already has a line of body products, will not be making Terra Firma’s body care products, Donnille said.

Shay Kennedy said she plans to continue to make some of those products, such as Green Star Salve and Love Oil Lip Balm, and to sell them at the Oregon Country Fair.